Rhian Roxburgh who competed in the 35 to 39 age-group successfully won gold in the ETU Triathlon European Championships in Pontevedra, whilst also being the fastest female overall.

 

Rhian commented: “It’s fantastic, I am overwhelmed actually. I was really pleased to just be nominated, so to win it, is fantastic.”

 

Colin Dixon makes it a second successive British Triathlon Male Age-Group Triathlete of the Year award. This season Colin successfully retained his standard distance world title in the 40-44 category and added a silver in the age group races of the ITU Aquathlon World Championships whilst competing in Beijing.

 

Colin was unable to attend the Awards Dinner but sent this message: “I am just one of many thousands of age group athletes who are all determined to do as well as they can and compete simply because they love the sport. This is the reason I have kept going over all these years and I see no reason why I should ever retire.  I hope I can be an inspiration to others to prove that with consistent training your body will stay as fit as ever, and I'll try to keep hot on the heels of the youngsters for as long as I can!  I hope I can keep Britain proud again next year.”

 

The awards didn’t stop there for age-group athletes. Danielle Stewart was awarded the Peter Holmes Award for Inspirational Performance in International Competition. 

 

The award recognises the commitment and passion of Peter Holmes, a former member of British Triathlon staff, whose tragic loss in December 2009 in a winter sports accident in Canada, greatly saddened all at British Triathlon. The award is presented annually to the athlete who is considered to have achieved the most outstanding performance of the year in triathlon or our associated multisports.

 

Danielle has had a superb year in which she won both the ETU Duathlon and Triathlon European titles in her 25-29 age-group. However, her standout performance was the ITU Duathlon World Championship in Gijon where despite only being able to train for three weeks prior to the event, she won her age-group and was second overall, showing both talent and determination to retain her World Championship title for the third time in four years. 

 

Danielle was shocked to receive the award commenting: “It’s fantastic, I had no idea I had been nominated, I am really, really pleased. It rounds the season off the season really nicely.”

 

Danielle is one of our most successful GE Great Britain Age-Group triathletes and when asked about advice for anyone thinking of trying to qualify, she added: “Just give it a go, join a club if you are not already a member. Just get out there with some friends and it’s actually quite surprising what you can achieve when you have a go!”